Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama or God Bless America on most car tags?

G.R. Brown stood at the back of his late model pickup loading a half dozen bags of fertilizer he had just purchased at a Walmart. When he slammed the truck's tailgate shut, his tag came into view.

It was the "Sweet Home Alabama" tag, the one with the beach scene and puffy clouds on the horizon. Next to Brown's truck

was an SUV with the other standard state tag, the one with a waving American flag and the words "God Bless America."

Brown was asked why he, like the overwhelming majority of Alabamians, picked the Sweet Home Alabama tag when it debuted a few years ago rather than the "God Bless America" tag.

"I'm God-fearing, and I love America, so nothing against that tag at all, but this one just seems to me to be more about Alabama," said Brown, 61.

And then there is the Lynyrd Skynyrd 1974 song: "Sweet Home Alabama." Brown brought it up.

"I guess most Americans love that song. I've been all over the country and Canada and you hear it all the time," said Brown. "But that song is really special if you're from Alabama. ... It's like our state anthem. You got to love it."

Brown was asked if he ever feared someone might feel he's less godly or patriotic for choosing "Sweet Home" over "God Bless America?" He laughed.

"'Sweet Home' is patriotic if you ask me. And I don't think God cares one way or another what ... tag I put on my truck," Brown said.

Alabama has long been a proud member of the Bible Belt. A large chunk of Alabamians profess to attend church regularly and pray regularly.

Yet that religious foothold in the state does not manifest itself in the selection of car tags. Given the choice between the secular "Sweet Home Alabama" tag and the more godly "God Bless America" tag, Alabamians choose the Sweet Home tag by a lot.

For the year beginning Oct. 1, 2010, and ending Sept. 30, 2011, about 880,294 Alabamians were driving around with a God Bless America tag on their vehicle. In that same time period, 2,923,475 state residents were driving with the Sweet Home Alabama tag.

Residents such as Sherri Cook of Hoover. "I just think those words, 'Sweet Home Alabama,' say exactly how I feel," said Cook, 49. "I've listened to that song I guess since I was 11 or 12. We grew up with it and, unlike so much about Alabama that you just have to sometimes hang your head about, those words can be said with pride; they mean something good."

In not one of Alabama's 67 counties has the sale of the God Bless America tag exceeded the Sweet Home Alabama tag, according to data from the 2011 fiscal year.

But the God Bless America tag has its supporters. John Foster of Bessemer is one. He selected that tag for his two cars and his pickup truck.

"What's a better hope you can have for your country than to say, 'God bless America?'" said Foster. "I love the flag on the tag, and I pray to God every night," added the 66-year-old Vietnam veteran. "I hope the state keeps issuing that tag for as long as I live."